Three tollgates

    to be scrapped

    Shenzhen’s transport authority was planning to scrap* three tollgates*, a meeting was told on Monday.

    The Wutong Mountain Tunnel tollgate connecting downtown Shenzhen and Yantian District would be scrapped this year and the transport authority was preparing to dismantle* the Shuitian and Matian tollgates in Bao’an District.

    This was the first time the authority had announced scrapping the two tollgates in Bao’an.

    New search engine

    Shenzhen-based Goojje, last year called China’s Google copycat*, launched a social networking search engine on Monday, which it claimed was “the first of its kind in the world.”

    The operators of Goojje told a press conference in Shenzhen on Sunday that the new engine was innovative, providing the functions of Google and Facebook, the world’s leading social networking site.

    Users can search any topics while sharing views online with others who have the same interest, the conference was told.

    Swine flu deaths

    Three more people have died from swine flu in Hong Kong, taking the death toll to at least 17 in the past month, the city health authority said on Monday.

    The latest three victims, who died last week, were a 64-year-old woman and two men aged 71 and 83.

    Mars probe

    China’s first Mars probe will be launched from a Russian rocket in November, two years later than originally planned.

    China’s Mars explorer, Yinghuo-1, marks the country’s first attempt at deep space exploration after sending a probe to the moon.

    The 110-kg micro-satellite was originally due to blast off in October 2009 with Russia’s “Phobos Explorer” from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, but the launch was postponed.

    (SD-Agencies)